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[What Causes It?]

Juice Therapy

It is well-known that an imbalance in the body chemistry and cell metabolism causes all sorts of degenerative diseases like cancer, diabetes, arthritis and heart attack. This imbalance is usually caused by constant consumption of devitalised or adulterated food. The imbalance in the body chemistry and cell metabolism can be corrected by detoxification.

Toxicity is the main cause of ill health and by detoxifying one is able to maintain a healthy body.

Consuming raw vegetables and fruit juices is one of the least expensive, simplest and safest methods of detoxification. Raw fruit and vegetable juices are considered as complete food by most doctors in the world. When juices are consumed, we get most of the vitamins and minerals we need.

When our body burns food for energy it produces free radicals which are highly charged toxins. The antidote for free radicals is antioxidant which we can get by consuming fruit and vegetable juices.
 
Juices must be consumed within 15 minutes otherwise it oxidizes. When we consume fruit and vegetable juices, 90 per cent of the enzyme is absorbed into the system, as compared to 30 per cent absorption rate when we eat a whole fruit. These fruit and vegetable juices are digested within 25 to 30 minutes and are quickly assimilated into the blood.

Fruit and vegetable juices should not be consumed at the same time, take a gap of three to four hours between these two fruit juices. It is advisable to take fruit juices in the morning and vegetable juices in the afternoon. 

Fruit juices are diuretics. Thus, it increases the quantity of urine. It is best to avoid taking it at night, otherwise your sleep may be disturbed. Once fruit juices help clear the toxic elements from your body system, you can then consume vegetable juices which helps in the regeneration of healthy body cells.

You should take a mixture of different fruits and vegetable juices in order to consume a rich variety of vitamins and minerals.

Drink fresh juices without added sugar and avoid any canned or bottled juices. Canned and bottled juices are added with preservatives and this kills the enzymes in the juices. Therefore, it is of no nutritional value. Moreover, canned and bottled juices lose their natural colour, taste and flavour.

Use a juice extractor or extract the juice manually. Do not use a blender as you only get pulp and not juice.

It is recommended that a healthy person take a litre of juice per day and people who have health problems should consume an average of two to three litres per day.

A person should fast on juices at least once a week. This means that no food is consumed for the whole day. This method helps to eliminate toxic and inorganic substances and bacteria from the body.

Dr Dhilip Kumar holds a Ph.D in Natural Medicine. He is the Asian Regional Director of Kevala Centre (U.K.) that offers distance learning courses and practical workshops in natural therapy. He can be reached at Tel: 03-5636 7986/ 012-2099 589 or Fax: 03-5636 7986. Email: kevala@mailcity.com / kevala01@yahoo.com.


Sugar Linked To Increasing Chronic Diseases – WHO

Chronic diseases, which are preventable, are rapidly increasing.  Obesity (which can lead to heart disease, hypertension, stroke and diabetes), for example, has tripled in the last 20 years.

It has been projected that, by 2020, chronic diseases will account for almost ¾ of all deaths worldwide, and that 71% of deaths due to ischaemic heart disease, 75% of deaths due stroke, and 70% of deaths due to diabetes will occur in developing countries.

The number of people in developing countries with diabetes will increase by more than 2.5-fold – from 84 million in 1995 to 228 million in 2025.

This bleak scenario was detailed in the latest SHO/FAO report on chronic diseases that, among others, advise consumers to cut down sugar intake.

According to the report, the leading causes for increasing chronic diseases are the increasing intake of high-calorie, low-nutrition foods, increasingly inactive lifestyles, and other factors (eg: tobacco use).


OBESITY
“In many developing countries undergoing economic transition, rising levels of obesity often coexist in the same population (or even the same household) with chronic  undernutrition. Increases in obesity over the past 30 years have been paralleled by a dramatic rise in the prevalence of diabetes.” ~ WHO/FAO findings, 2003

Obesity consumes a large portion of national health budgets. In the US alone, the direct costs of obesity accounted for an estimated 6.8%, ie US$70 billion (about RM266 billion) of total health care costs; and physical inactivity for a further US$24 billion (about RM91.2 billion) in 1995.

Increasing obesity is linked to increasing risks to diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension.  Restricting “free sugars” (ie added sugar), it says can reduce the risk of unhealthy weight gain, a trigger for many chronic diseases.

It cautions that children with a high consumption of soft drinks rich in free sugars are more likely to be overweight and to gain excess weight.

What Causes It?
The chief causes of weight gain and obesity are:
High intake of “energy-dense micronutrient-poor” foods (mainly processed foods that are high in fat and/or sugars).  We should be eating more “low energy-dense” or “energy-dilute” foods (ie high-fibre and high-water foods, like fruits, legumes, vegetables and wholegrain cereals).

Heavy marketing of energy-dense foods and fast-food outlets.  Fast-food restaurants, and foods and beverages that are usually classified under the “eat least” category in dietary guidelines are among the most heavily marketed products, especially on television.

Young children are often the target group for the advertising of these products because they have a significant influence on the foods bought by parents.

The huge expenditure on marketing fast-foods and other “eat least” choices – US$11 billion (about RM41.8 billion) in the US alone in 1997 – was considered to be a key factor in the increased consumption of food prepared outside the home, especially energy-dense, micronutrient-poor foods.

High intake of sugars-sweetened soft drinks and fruit juices.  It has been estimated that each additional can or glass of sugars-sweetened drink that children consume every day increases the risk of becoming obese by 60%.

Most of the evidence related to soda drinks but many fruit drinks and cordials are equally energy-dense and many promote weight gain if drunk in large quantities.

Overall, the evidence implicating a high-intake of sugars-sweetened drinks in promoting weight gain was considered moderately strong.

“The high and increasing consumption of sugars-sweetened drinks by children in many countries is of serious concern”, says the report.

Unhealthy weight gain is also attributed to large portion sizes.  The marketing of “supersize” portions, especially in fast-food outlets, is now common practice in many countries, and this is likely to lead to overconsumption.

How To Prevent?
Children & Adolescents – Promote an active lifestyle, limit television viewing, encourage intake of fruits and vegetables, and restrict intake of energy-dense, micronutrient-poor foods (eg: packaged snacks), sugars-sweetened soft drinks, and other fatty and salty foods.

Infants & Young Children – Breastfeed them exclusively, and avoid adding sugars and starches when feeding them formula food.

“A meta-analysis of 16 trials of high-fat versus low-fat diets for 2 months, indicated that a reduction in fat content by 10% corresponds to about ... a 3 kg reduction in body weight.  At a population level, 3 kg equates to about 1 Body Mass Index unit, or about a 5% difference in obesity prevalence.”  ~ WHO/FAO findings, 2003


DIABETES
“There are now an estimated 150 million cases of diabetes, mainly Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent, or lifestyle-triggered) diabetes, worldwide, and the number is predicted to double by 2025.  These figures are underestimates as many cases are undiagnosed.”  ~ WHO/FAO FINDINGS (paraphrased), 2003

Type 2 diabetes, previously a disease of the middle-aged and elderly, has recently escalated in all age groups and is now being identified in younger and younger age groups, including adolescents and children.

According to the report, “the most dramatic increase in Type 2 diabetes are occurring in societies in which there have been major changes in the diet consumed, reductions in physical activity, and increases in overweight and obesity”.

The diets in such countries are typically energy-dense, high in saturated fatty acids and depleted in dietary fibre.


DENTAL DISEASES
“RESEARCH has consistently shown that when annual sugar consumption exceeds 15 kg per person per year (or 40 grams per person per day), dental caries increase with increasing sugar intake.”  (Note:  In Malaysia, sugar consumption is 120 grams per person per day – 3 times as much.)  ~ WHO/FAO findings, 2003

DENTAL diseases are a costly burden to health care services, accounting for 5-10% of total health care expenditures and exceeding the cost of treating CVD, cancer and osteoporosis in industrialised countries.

Although not life-threatening, they have an impact on self-esteem, eating ability, nutrition and health. Dental decay, for instance, may result in tooth loss, which reduces the ability to eat a nutritious diet, the enjoyment of food, the confidence to socialise and the quality of life.

Dietary Sugars And Dental Caries
Populations that had experienced a reduced sugar availability during the Second World War showed a reduction in dental caries, which subsequently increased again when the restriction was lifted.

Isolated communities with a traditional way of life and a consistently low intake of sugars have very low levels of dental caries.

As economic levels in such societies rise, the amount of sugar and other fermentable carbohydrates in the diet increases and this is often associated with a marked increase in dental caries.

Examples of this trend have been reported among the Inuit in Alaska, USA, as well as in populations in Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Sudan and on the Island of Tristan da Cunha, St Helena.

There is evidence to show that many groups of people with high exposure to sugars have levels of caries higher than the population average.  Examples include children with chronic diseases requiring long-term sugar-containing medicines, and confectionery workers.

Similarly, experience of dental caries has seldom been reported in groups of people who have a habitually low intake of sugars, for example, children of dentists and children in institutions with strict dietary regimens.

A study, (the Vipeholm study in Sweden), conducted in an adult mental institution in Sweden between 1945 and 1953, investigated the effects of consuming sugary foods of varying stickiness and at different times throughout the day on the development of caries.

It was found that increased frequency of consumption of sugar between meals produces a marked increase in dental caries.  The incidence of caries increases markedly when the frequency of sugars intake exceeds 4 times a day. The increase in dental caries activity disappears on withdrawal of sugar-rich foods.


Destructive Foods
Human observational studies have shown an association between dental erosion and the consumption of a number of acidic foods and drinks, including frequent consumption of fruit juice, soft drinks (including sports drinks), pickles (containing vinegar), citrus fruits and berries.

Age-related increases in dental erosion have been shown to be greater in these with the highest intake of soft drinks.  Tooth enamel is softened within just 1 hour of exposure to cola.
(Note:  Fruit juices are significantly more destructive than whole fruits).


Protective Foods
Wholegrain foods have protective properties – they require more chewing, and thus stimulate increased saliva flow.  Other foods with similar effects are peanuts.

Black tea extract increases plaque fluoride concentration and reduces the dental diseases associated with a sugars-rich diet.

Epidemiological studies have also associated breast-feeding with protection against early childhood caries.  Formula feed confers no benefits to dental health; breast milk on the other hand, is protective because it has no added sugars.
How To Get Slim With Healthy Eating Habits


Many women want to be slim. Maybe you’re one of them. Perhaps you’re getting married soon and you want to fit into your wedding gown comfortably. Or perhaps you simply want to look (and feel) great in a swimsuit or bikini.
Whatever your reason for wanting to be slim, there are some things you can do to become slim while staying healthy. If you are reading this article, chances are you want to know what those things are. Read on then, to find out.

First thing is to assess your current eating habits. This is important because you need to know what’s not working. If your current eating habits are keeping you overweight, and you want to be slim, it figures that you need to change those eating habits. If something is not working, change it.

Assessing Your Current Eating Habits.
Keep a record of your eating habits for a week. The record should contain the following information:
1. What you are eating,
2. How much you’re eating,
3. When you eat (note the times) - you want to know how far apart your meals and snacks are.
4. Why you’re eating at those times - is it because you’re hungry, or are you ‘comfort eating’?
5. How you feel after eating - pleasantly satisfied or bloated and stuffed.
6. How many glasses of water you drink each day
7. When you find out your current eating habits, you’ll need to determine which habits are
    sabotaging your efforts to lose weight. Those are the ones you want to change. More on that
    later.

Goal Setting
Determine what your weight goal is. Or you may prefer to monitor your progress in terms of your waistline or hip measurements. Whichever one suits you is best.

Form a mental picture of yourself looking the way you want to look. Goals are more powerful and empowering when we visualize them. Hold that mental picture in your mind at all times.

NOTE: Eating healthily is not all there is to getting slim. You must become more physically active (read ‘exercise’) in addition to eating properly if you’re to lose weight permanently. This article deals with the healthy eating part of that equation.

Action Plan
Now that you know what your ideal size is, you have a goal that you’re working towards. You need to then determine a plan of action to help you achieve that goal.

To help you decide on the right plan, bear in mind that eating should be a pleasure. Ask yourself the following questions:
1. Which nutritious foods do I enjoy eating ?
2. How soon after eating do I get hungry again? Most adults get hungry about 3 to 4 hours after
    eating a meal.
3. Do I eat only when I’m hungry? Hint: You should.
4. How can I stay full? Drink lots of water. Scientists recommend between 6 and 8 glasses of water
    daily. Your body needs it, and it helps you stay full.

With the answers to those questions in mind, form an action plan, and start a new daily record to help you keep track of your progress. This new record should contain the same columns as your initial current habits record. This way you can monitor each improvement and celebrate accordingly.

When deciding on which actions to take, you need to refer back to your initial assessment of your current eating habits. Decide which habits are preventing you from losing weight. Write down alternative habits that you want to cultivate, which will help you get slim.

These new habits you want to form are now your ‘targets’ - milestones on your way to your ideal body shape and size.

Taking Action
To form healthy eating habits, start with small changes.

Don’t make too many changes at once. Set yourself main targets, such as ‘I will drink 8 glasses of water each day’, then set smaller targets to help you reach each main target.

Using the example above, a small target could be ‘I will drink an extra glass of water after each meal’. When you break down your targets, they don’t seem so daunting. They seem easily achievable, so you feel encouraged to stick to them.

Decide on the foods you will be eating regularly. Make sure they’re foods you enjoy.

Eat small portions, about 5 or 6 times each day, instead of three large meals. This helps keep your metabolic rate high, and helps you lose weight naturally.

How To Stay Motivated To Continue Eating Healthily
Believe that you can do it, and accept responsibility for your health and for the way your body looks. Reward yourself each time you successfully complete a small target. Celebrate each small success - don’t wait until you’ve lost tons of weight before you reward yourself. Make the journey enjoyable by treating yourself each time you make progress. Keep in mind what you hope to achieve - remind yourself of how lovely and healthy your body is becoming each day as a result of your new eating habits. Remember, each small step in the right direction is bringing you closer to your main target. With a clear goal in mind, a feasible action plan and tips to help you stay motivated, you should find it easy to form habits that keep you slim and healthy at the same time.

Here’s to your new healthy eating habits!


About The Author
Ruth Hinson is a successful slimming consultant. She helps women lose weight safely and healthily using the SlymRyte Healthy Eating Plan ™. Visit www.slymryte.co.uk for more information.



CANCER
Cancer is now a major cause of death throughout the world.  An estimated 10 million new cases and over 6 million deaths from cancer occurred in 2000.  Overweight and obesity (partly caused by excessive sugar intake) are 2 of the major factors for cancer.

"When people have lost their authentic personal taste, they lose their personality and become instruments of other people's wills."
Robert Graves

Can brands survive ecosystem collapse or the fall of our government?
 
Making do with less allows one to distance themself from the tendency of the victims of advertising to self-define according to the material objects possessed or not possessed, driven, drunk, worn, used, seen with or abused.

You usually see people thus affected in public places, lurking around a piece of machinery, such as a car or a boat. They bask in its radiance, act respectful and imply knowledge about its quality and providence. They act as they feel that they should act, making sure that others see them acting this way in the presence of the thing. They can only communicate with each other through the medium of the object, the cold piece of metal, in the presence of which they feel that they can speak to each other and actually show some emotion and interact.

The thing, the product, becomes a longed for goal, a means of justifying their existence, a way of envisioning themself in a different world with possession of the thing being the key tenet. Particular speech patterns often develop around things to the exclusion of the personal qualities of the speaker, as in

"I used to have a....."/"Yeah, friend of mine, he's got a "57.....", "last night I drank two....and a six pack of....","she was wearing..."," we did two....then a ....have you seen the new...""...how about those Forty-Niners?..." "Look what I got..."

Empty, hollow words, bespeaking a personal void filled by the pursuit of things. Getting away from need for things is at least a start in allowing people to communicate and then once communicating, beginning to solve real problems in their home, community, nation and the world.

Plastics: Cancer & Chemicals

Soft plastics are more hazardous than hard plastics. The reason is that soft plastics are chemically unstable – they outgas into the air, whereas hard plastics are chemically inert.

So plastic soda bottles or liquor bottles, for instance, may release vinyl chloride companions into the liquids contained within them. Similarly, any pliable plastic will release invisible, toxic vapours into the air, particularly when the plastic is heated.

The problem becomes acute in a small space, such as inside an automobile with soft plastic seats, especially when the car is new. Vinyl chloride is what gives a car that “new car smell”.

In some of these cases, you can even taste residues of vinyl chloride in your mouth or see a dull film of the substance on the windshield. This occurs frequently when the car sits in direct sunshine with the windows rolled up.

Plastics are toxic. To make plastics flexible, chemical additives called plasticizers are added. They’re found in plastic wrap, some car seats, vinyl sheet flooring and vinyl shower curtains and can be identified by their “plastic smell”.

Here are some potential cancer-causing substances found in plastics.

Styrene
Used as a residue on polystyrene plastic cups and food packing. Styrene has been linked with increased levels of chromosomal damage, angiosarcoma of the liver and cancer in workers at styrene or polystyrene plants.

Vinyl Chloride (a known carcinogen)
A residue on PVC products like plastic bags and wrapping film

Acrylonitrile
Used as a monomer for two styrene resins. Has been known to cause cancer and birth defects in laboratory animals and has been linked to an increase in cancer among exposed workers

Antimony Oxide
A crystalline substance used as a catalyst in the polymerization of polyethylene terephthalate plastic, such as a flame retardant in polystyrene. It may also cause birth defects.

Benzene (a recognised human carcinogen. It causes leukaemia)
Used as a solvent in the production of PVC and low-density polyethylene and as a raw material for styrene, the chemical used to make polystyrene.

p-Benzoquinone (a suspected carcinogen)
Used as a retardant in the polymerization of polystyrene

Carbon Tetrachloride (a suspected human carcinogen)
Used in the polymerization of PVC and polystyrene and as a solvent for other resins.

Chromium (VI) Oxide
Used as a catalyst in the polymerisation of HDPE and LDPE. Has produced cancer effect in laboratory animals.

Diazomethane (a known animal carcinogen)
Used in the polymerisation of PET.

Nickel
A toxic heavy metal associated with an increased incidence of nose and lung cancer in occupationally exposed workers.

This article is extracted with permission from Utusan Konsumer May 2002, Vol 32 No 7. Utusan Konsumer is produced by Consumers’ Association of Penang.

[Food Additives You Should Avoid]

Imagine yourself living in the following world:

You live in a safe pleasant and unpolluted community where you actually know your neighbors and interact with them, be it a small town, a suburb or a city neighborhood. You can easily walk, bicycle or take effective mass transit to your nearby job, giving you time to think or read as you get there.

The work that you do improves our future, benefits your community and means something to you and those with whom you interact. You look forward to Monday. The longer that you are employed the more you learn and the more valuable you become to your employer with an increasing level of pay.

Your work schedule leaves you sufficient time to enjoy your friends, family and outside interests. Money isn't a controlling influence in your life because your needs are easily met. Your possessions are few, yet of high quality, thus allowing your home to be smaller and less expensive to own or rent.

You're connected to your surroundings, rather than just dwelling in them, your backyard, for example, provides most of the produce you might need plus a surplus that you can trade with neighbors. You have a stake in your community and participate in local decision making at the Town Council, P.T.A. and other grass roots organizations.. You buy what is necessary in nearby establishments whose owners are known to you and live in your community. If you have children, they walk to a nearby well-funded neighborhood school in safety and then learn authentic social skills as they interact with a community of honorably employed adults outside of school.

Occasionally you need to travel to a large store on the edge of town. You do this on a free shuttle bus or perhaps in a simple, older vehicle, the use and costs of which you might share with others or a car that you rent only when you need it, thus preserving for yourself the weeks or months that it takes to earn the thousands of after-tax Dollars that owning a new car would take away from you each year. Your interests, the things that you really like to do with your mind and your hands, all the possibilities of your life, are there to be explored because you have the time.

"But this is America, you say, all this is possible."

Not anymore it's not.

There are growing forces making this way of life almost impossible to attain or maintain, even for the wealthy. If you are among the lucky few who still have the kind of life outlined above, these same forces threaten you. Whether you live in an isolated small town or a big city and prefer your anonymity as well as the multiplicity of things available to you, these same forces will erode your security and ability to make choices for yourself.

Do you think what's outlined above can only occur in some mythic long-past small town? Before the hegemony of consumerism and bottom-line economics, you could do all of these things anywhere, including our cities. There is no reason that we cannot live like this again if sufficient people work to identify and disempower the forces that promote and profit from limiting our social and economic horizons.

 These forces are manifested as consumerism: At first a growing number of pleasant conveniences for housewives in the 1950s, then a car for everyone with the gradual erosion of transit, then the ubiquitousness of things and chemical products technologically unimaginable a few decades earlier, then growing availability of consumer credit and debt, the over-dependence on labor-saving devices, total dependence on the car and absolute necessity of full time work, the two income household to pay for more and more, then the importation of cheaper and cheaper goods and the disappearance of manufacturing jobs and now the decline of service work with professionals next to be downsized.. The ongoing disenfranchisement of people from our own community, replaced by commercial transactions with distant strangers..where will it end? When America looks like some faded Third World fragment of the old British Empire? An overpopulated wasteland of pollution, eroded landscapes and hungry people digging into landfills for salvageables?

We shouldn't allow this or anything like this happen. Things may be starting to turn around in our favor. But it takes work and time and attention to details and a willingness to try new things for our own and our children's benefit. There are serious changes ahead. We can control some of these for our benefit or we can just react to them after they have happened.

Simply stated, there's a lot of money being made and a lot of power being gathered by the people that promote consumerism. You pay for it in gradually limited economic mobility, pollution, threats to your health and a declining standard of living, as measured by the things that really matter.


How consumerism affects society, the economy and the Environment.

Consumerism is economically manifested in the chronic purchasing of new goods and services, with little attention to their true need, durability, product origin or the environmental consequences of manufacture and disposal. Consumerism is driven by huge sums spent on advertising designed to create both a desire to follow trends, and the resultant personal self-reward system based on acquisition. Materialism is one of the end results of consumerism.

Consumerism interferes with the workings of society by replacing the normal common-sense desire for an adequate supply of life's necessities, community life, a stable family and healthy relationships with an artificial ongoing and insatiable quest for things and the money to buy them with little regard for the true utility of what is bought. An intended consequence of this, promoted by those who profit from consumerism, is to accelerate the discarding of the old, either because of lack of durability or a change in fashion.

Landfills fill with cheap discarded products that fail early and cannot be repaired. Products are made psychologically obsolete long before they actually wear out. A generation is growing up without knowing what quality goods are. Friendship, family ties and personal autonomy are only promoted as a vehicle for gift giving and the rationale for the selection of communication services and personal acquisition. Everything becomes mediated through the spending of money on goods and services.

It is an often stated catechism that the economy would improve if people just bought more things, bought more cars and spent more money. Financial resources better spent on Social Capital such as education, nutrition, housing etc. are spent on products of dubious value and little social return. In addition, the purchaser is robbed by the high price of new things, the cost of the credit to buy them, and the less obvious expenses such as, in the case of automobiles, increased registration, insurance, repair and maintenance costs.

Many consumers run out of room in their homes to store the things that they buy. A rapidly growing industry in America is that of self-storage. Thousands of acres of land good farm land are paved over every year to build these cities of orphaned and unwanted things so as to give people more room to house the new things that they are persuaded to buy. If these stored products were so essential in the first place, why do they need to be warehoused? An overabundance of things lessens the value of what people possess.

"You work in a job you hate, to buy stuff that you don't need, to impress people that you don't like."
- Unknown

Malls have replaced parks, churches and community gatherings for many who no longer even take the trouble to meet their neighbors or care to know their names. People move frequently as though neighborhoods and cities were products to be tried out like brands of deodorant.


Consumerism sets each person against them self in an endless quest for the attainment of material things or the imaginary world conjured up and made possible by things yet to be purchased. Weight training, diet centers, breast reduction, breast enhancement, cosmetic surgery, permanent eye make-up, liposuction, collagen injections, these are are some examples of people turning themselves into human consumer goods more suited for the "marketplace" than living in a healthy balanced society.

It is impossible to win a war against yourself or your uncontrolled desires. A good example of this is the simplistic materialist psychosis of the bumper sticker:

"He who dies with the most toys wins"

Is psychosis too strong a word to use here? Appreciate the following line of reasoning:

 "I can imagine it, therefore I want it. I want it, therefore I should have it. Because I should have it, I need it. Because I need it, I deserve it. Because I deserve it, I will do anything necessary to get it."
This is the artificial internal drive that the advertisers tap into. You "imagine it" because they bombard your consciousness with its image until you then move to step two, "I want it...etc. " This is one of the things that allows people to surrender to consumerism. As a society we have gone from self-sufficiency based on our internal common sense of reasonable limits to the ridiculous goal of Keeping up with the Jones then to stampeding for the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, or at least as far as our credit limit allows us to go.

The New Road Map Foundation illustrates with cogent statistics the dichotomy between things, happiness and the health of the environment.

Happiness can't be purchased in the marketplace, no matter how much advertising tries to convince you of it. Market driven forces have ursurped the role once assumed by family, home and community. We have been programmed to believe that we should pursue more money to spend on more things offered in the marketplace, to be living mannequins for the material adornments of the hour, our worth determined by what we have or don't have, rather than what we are, what we do or what we know.

Consumerism, already having captured death as a consumer obligation whereby sadness and regret are quenched by spending lots of money, now turns major life events like weddings and births into consumer events with their own hierarchy of demands for the things which assume a life of their own. For example, the bride's dress and accessories assumes far more significance in the telling than the bride's state of mind. Baby shower gifts take precedence over helping with the baby.

Recreation has become commercialized. Special leisure clothing, sporting equipment and attendance at expensive sporting events rife with advertising and corporate sponsorship are the manifestation of consumerism in recreation. Oakland, California, a community with high levels of unemployment and poverty has banks that are now creating special loan categories so that people can get personal lines of credit to buy season tickets to the taxpayer-financed stadium.

"Sports is another crucial example of the indoctrination system . . . It offers people something to pay attention to that is of no importance . . . It keeps them from worrying about things that matter to their lives that they might have an idea of something about . . . People have the most exotic information and understanding about all sorts of arcane issues . . . It's a way of building up irrational attitudes of submission to authority, and group cohesion behind leadership elements, in fact its training in irrational jingoism . . . That's why energy is devoted to supporting them . . . and advertisers are willing to pay for them."

Food Additives You Should Avoid

The next time you shop for food in the supermarket, look out for … not food, but toxic Additives.

A recent CAP survey found that most supermarket foods are unnatural. They are highly processed and are made up of hydrogenated fat, bulking agents, processed starches, sugars and salt, mixed together with an array of chemical additives.

There are even “foods” that are made entirely from chemicals.

Chewing gums, for example, consist almost completely of artificial ingredients.

What really is the food we eat? The average supermarket has about 18,000- 30,000 different food products on its shelves, and most consumers have no idea what they are made of.

For decades now, the food industry has continually created new chemicals to manipulate and transform our food. Nearly 3,000 additives and preservatives are used in food today – to mimic natural flavours, colour foods to make them look more “natural” or ‘fresh’, preserve foods for longer and longer periods of time and create altered versions of breads, crackers, fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy products and many more commonly eaten foods.

Such manipulation of our food can have a profound effect on our body’s unique biochemical balance. In the short term, some of these chemicals may cause headaches; low-energy levels; or poor mental concentration, behaviour, or immune response.

Chemicals with long-term effects could increase your risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and other degenerative conditions.

Avoiding toxins in your diet is thus an important first step toward enhancing your health and lowering your risk of disease.

Know what you are eating. But reading the label alone is no good if you don’t know what the chemicals are, and what they can do to you.

Utusan Konsumer exposes the dirty secrets of the food processing industry and examines the key additives that may undermine your health.

Preservatives are widely used in the food industry to extend the shelf life of food. With preservatives, food can last much longer without going mouldy or becoming infected with bugs and bacteria.

Unfortunately, the chemical characteristics that make preservatives effective in killing bacteria and other organisms in food can affect our health.


Sulphur dioxide and sulphites

This is a gas that is formed when sulphur burns. It also occurs naturally. It dissolves in water to form sulphurous acid. The acid forms a series of salts called sulphites and metabisulphites, which are used as food preservatives.

Sulphites prevent vegetables and fruit from going brown after they have been peeled, and keep vegetables looking fresh even when they are old and stale.

Dried fruit slices can be kept standing for hours in a sulphite solution until the sulphur dioxide has completely penetrated the slices.
 
Health effects
Sulphur dioxide – linked to mutations and cancer
Sulphites – severe asthma attacks, stomach problems, blurred vision, dizziness, irregular breathing, breathlessness and nervous irritability.

Nitrates
They can be found in virtually all cooked and cured meat, sausage, bacon, ham, frankfurters, hot dogs, corned beef, luncheon meat and pate. They give ham, hot dogs and bacon a pinkish colour. Without them, ham and other processed meats would be grey instead of pink.

Health Effects
Convert in the body to a highly toxic substance, nitrite, which affects the red blood cells, causing breathing difficulties, dizziness and headaches. When nitrites combine with other chemicals in the stomach, they can form chemicals called nitrosamines, one of the most potent causes of cancer scientists have ever identified.

Benzoates
Benzoic acid or its salts, the benzoates, are used to stop bacteria, fungi and yeast from growing in processed foods. They are used in fruit juices, pickles, sauces and toppings, margarine, jam, figs, coconut milk, concentrated tomato juice, preserves and carbonated drinks. They are also used as a preservative in other additives such as flavourings and colourings.
 
Health Effects
Provoke allergies, asthma, skin reactions, hyperactivity, gastric irritation and migraine; and affect the natural balance of bacteria in the intestines. Benzoic acid enhances the action of carcinogens in the body.


"Products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind."
-Walter Landor
Industrial Designer

"The most important assets are brands.
Buildings age and become dilapidated.
Machines wear out.
Cars rust.
People die.
But what lives on are the brands."
Hector Liang
Chairman, United Biscuits

topic : numbers
riddle :

as in 2500,
there are two ____
it starts with the letter n
but it ain't nil
six letters in all

In today affluent society, students have more money than they should have. In reality, most students went shopping mall just merely to spend money on buying cell phones, magazines and even video games or PS 2 games. It is extremely dissapointing as students are spending unnecessary stuff. I know a friend who bought a nokia phone for RM1300 but sold it of at RM 600 in a week later just to change to a new phone. Imagine what RM 700 could do if he never spend it recklessly. That RM 700 could be used for donation and charity work for the benefits of mankind. Students n Malaysian, heed this, in a couple of decades the rate of inflation is going up high beyond the recognition of mankind. At that tme the price of everything can exceed 100% of its original price. We must embrace ourself with the knowledge of consumerism not only for our benefits as well as our future generation.
Be a wise buyer and user. Think before you buy. Thank you.

[???How to shop smarter, cheaper, and faster]

Well..What is consumerism

Basically,  CONSUMERISM  is defined as a consumption or an act of using, buying, etc things or services.

Yo..Chiaox!
???How to shop smarter, cheaper, and faster

Our survey results, interviews with experts, and shopping trips to all sorts of stores yielded dozens of tips that will save you time and money, and inoculate you against store tactics that can trick you into buying more than you need.

For one thing, you can look beyond old-style supermarkets to a new shopping landscape with more competition and more ways to shop.

Whatever store you choose, if you know how to work the system, you can shop smarter, cheaper, and faster.

The Bush administration has been pushing ethanol as a renewable, homegrown alternative to gasoline. Now, the auto industry is abuzz with the promise of its flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs), which are designed to run on either gasoline or the blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline called E85.

“Live green, go yellow”

...referring to the corn from which most U.S. ethanol is made.

A recent Harris Interactive study of vehicle owners found that more than half were interested in purchasing an FFV, mostly for reduced dependency on petroleum and improved fuel economy.

But after putting a 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe FFV through an array of fuel economy, acceleration, and emissions tests, and interviewing more than 50 experts on ethanol fuel, CR determined that E85 will cost consumers more money than gasoline and that there are concerns about whether the government’s support of FFVs is really helping the U.S. achieve energy independence.

"Acetaldehyde is bad”

...James Cannon, president of Energy Futures, an alternative-transportation publication

“But not as bad as some of the emissions from gasoline”

You don’t have to buy special shoes to stay fit and burn calories by walking for exercise. But some high-scoring walking shoes we tested will cushion your feet while letting them flex properly.

*"Impossible is Nothing"*

Part of the cushioning in a walking shoe comes from the squishy material in the midsole. Part also comes from your foot’s ability to roll inward and thus reduce the impact on bones and joints. A shoe that combines both kinds of cushioning while providing adequate stability is, well, a step ahead of shoes that don’t. If the shoe is also lightweight, flexible and breathable, so much the better.

*"Just Do It"*]

no komen.....

yeah smart of u

Hmmm... usually they'll just go there lepak... hmmm... sometimes'll go there for lunch after school...